Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1245 Arrival and bombardment
It was agreed that day that the Ming army decided to attack the fort first, annihilate the Dutch navy, and then trap Heyi to death.

However, although the fort does not have as many tricks as the bastion, it is built on the mountain after all, so it is not easy to attack.

In order to capture Lushun Port, the later Japanese spent five months attacking the highlands and forts around the port, resulting in 11 casualties.

Of course, it is impossible for the Dutch to have such advanced weapons and modern fortifications as the Russians, but the Ming army must also pay attention and make full preparations for attack.

In view of the shortage of manpower, Li Dingguo took advantage of the night to first send people into the city of Malacca below the fort, drive out all the residents in the city, and then set fire to the city to prevent the Dutch from leaving the fort to get supplies from the city.

Originally, there were more than 5 people living in this city, but because of the war, more than half of the population ran away, and the Ming army only captured more than 1 people.

At this time, there were only about 4000 Dutchmen in Malacca, and of course there were more than 2000 local soldiers to handle some chores and assist in the defense.

Of the four thousand Dutch, 500 were in the bastion, and 500 in each of the three forts.There were only over 1000 men in charge of the warships, and the reason why there were so few people was that the Dutch were almost all sailors. They had to guard the bastions and forts, so naturally there were fewer sailors to sail. The reason for the battle with the navy of the Ming army.

After the Ming army captured more than 1 people, they began to prepare for the attack on the fort. First, they used these labor forces to build a wharf in a nearby harbor, so that the main force of the navy could come from Pahang to the vicinity of Malacca, and from Champa The grain transported can also be transported directly for the long-term siege of the Ming army.

Fortunately, this attack was facilitated by sea transportation. Otherwise, if the food was transported from land, the manpower consumed and confiscated would be unimaginable.

After Li Dingguo clearly rejected the conditions of the East India Company, seeing the Ming army burn down the city under the fort, Moschell, the president of the East India Company, also began intensive preparations.

Of the three forts, the easternmost one is located on the top of a seventy or eighty-foot-tall mountain. After it is taken down, it can overlook the entire harbor. It is guarded by the Dutch officer Bananshiding who was released from Taiwan.

As a Dutch officer who fought against the Ming army, Ba Nanshiding was not as arrogant as other Dutch people. When the company voted to tear up the peace agreement, as a member of the council, he voted against it. However, those in Malacca and Badawi The Dutch in Asia don't understand him at all, and they don't know the strength of the Ming Dynasty, let alone the fact that the Ming Dynasty can dispatch tens of thousands of troops at will.

The country they recognize in their minds is still a feudal state like Europe, and they cannot understand how terrifying a centralized power with a population of 5000 to [-] million is.

He repeatedly emphasized that the Ming Dynasty was not weaker than the Ottoman Empire, but only a few supported him, and most of them were the Dutch who had withdrawn from Taiwan.

They lost Taiwan and caused losses to the company. The Dutch in Malacca and Batavia felt that they were trying to shirk their responsibilities and deliberately made the Ming Dynasty strong, so they didn't listen to his suggestion and eventually provoked trouble.

So far, regretting that it was useless, he could only defend with all his strength. He checked various fortifications over and over again, and personally asked about the range of the cannon, the number of shells, the reserves of gunpowder, and even the health of the soldiers.

On December 30, the Ming army used the captured young men to build a temporary dock in a bay more than [-] miles away from Malacca, and then began to attack the fort.

On this day, Bian Nan Shi Ding personally walked up to the fort early in the morning to check the enemy's situation.

Although he recognized the strength of the Ming Dynasty, he was more confident in guarding the fort and Malacca's defense system.

The last time he surrendered, it was because of insufficient troops, and because the Ming army cut off the water and food supplies, so he could only surrender.

This time, the fort he was guarding stored a large amount of food and a water reservoir, so there was no need to worry about running out of supplies, and even if the supplies on the fort were exhausted, they could still get supplies from the sea.

Because one side of the fort is close to the sea, the main castle can use ships to transport supplies at any time, and even troops can come to support it. If the Ming army attacks by force, he is confident that it will knock down the Ming army.

"Cheer up and pay attention to the movements of the Ming army!" Banan Shiding walked up to the fort, reminding the Dutch soldiers on the fort from time to time.

At this time, he stopped by the stone wall and took a telescope to look under the fort as usual. However, he just picked it up to take a look, but suddenly put it down, and then immediately picked up the telescope to look down again. .

In his circular field of vision, a ditch parallel to the fort suddenly appeared in the distance. He could see many heads leaking out, and spades of soil were thrown out of the ditch by the diggers, raising a cloud of dust.

The situation facing the other two forts was the same. The Ming army used earthwork methods to dig a deep trench parallel to the fort about two miles away from the fort.

It's hard to describe, but I don't understand what the Ming army is going to do. What's the point of digging a parallel trench a few miles away from the fort?

At that moment, he ordered people to fire a few shots, but because of the long distance and the lack of accuracy of the artillery, and the fact that the trench diggers were hiding in the ditch, the artillery on the fort basically did not cause any damage.

The shells fired for a while, but it had no effect. It could only waste ammunition, and the shelling could only stop. When the shelling stopped, shovelfuls of soil in the ditch were thrown out again.

Seeing this, the Ming army could only let the Ming army dig. In the afternoon, after the first parallel trench was dug wide enough, the Ming army began to rely on the first parallel trench to continue digging towards the fort.

This time they took the "Zhi" line. Such a ditch approached the fort, which could ensure that even if the shells fell into the ditch by chance, they would not cause a line of shots.

For a while, the dust was flying under the fort, and the three "zigzag" trenches quickly approached the fort.

The strong men in front dug quickly, and deepened, widened and reinforced the dug trenches until the soldiers walked in the trenches without leaking their heads.

On the first day, the trench advanced for more than a mile, and the Ming army's intentions were quickly discovered.

The artillery of the fort has an effective range of four to five miles. The Ming army approached the fort from such a distance, and it would inevitably suffer great damage. Yang Gong.

On the second day, the Ming army continued to send people to dig trenches. After bombarding the fort on the top of the mountain for a while, nearly a hundred Dutchmen rushed down, killed hundreds of coolies digging trenches, destroyed a section of trenches, and then returned to the top of the mountain.

The Ming army immediately sent gunners into the trenches to protect the coolies digging the trenches and prevent the Dutch from coming down to destroy them.

Seeing this, they had no choice but to watch the trenches of the Ming army approaching the foot of the mountain step by step, which made the Dutch a little anxious.

However, another thing happened at this time. The [-] reinforcements organized by the East India Company in India and Ceylon rushed past the obstruction of the Ming army ships and successfully sailed into the port, which increased the Dutch force to [-]. , Let the Dutch spirit for a while, confidence greatly increased.

At this time, the trenches of the Ming army were almost at the foot of the mountain, so between the three zigzag trenches, a second parallel trench was dug to connect the three trenches to facilitate the mobilization of troops and horses.

The entire trenching lasted nearly six days, and the width of the trench reached one foot, which was enough for the cannon to pass through. Although the Dutch army on the fort did not stop firing artillery during the whole process, except for the hundreds of coolies who were killed by sneak attacks However, less than 100 people were killed by shells in the Ming army.

At dawn on the 27th, the Ming army began to pass through the trenches, and transported [-] heavy artillery pieces borrowed from the navy of the Ming army to the second and parallel trenches to arrange artillery formations.

After getting the news, Banan Shiding came to the fort to observe. He first saw the brigade's gunners of the Ming army, jumped down the first trench, and then passed through the "Zigzag" trench to reach the second parallel trench below the fort. The mountain was not attacked, and the purpose should be to protect the heavy artillery placed by the Ming army in the second ditch.

The Ming army dug many gun pits along the second parallel trench. The gun mounts and most of the gun barrels were in the pits. Only the muzzle was raised high, protruding from the sandbags, aiming at the top of the mountain.

"Your Excellency, we must adjust our position immediately!" A Dutch soldier saw the artillery array arranged by the Ming army, with a hint of panic in his tone.

I don’t blame him for losing his composure. I originally thought that the Ming army dug trenches just to allow soldiers to attack from the foot of the mountain and shorten the distance of the charge. However, I didn’t think that the main goal of the Ming army was not to transport troops, but to mount cannons on the fort. under the nose.

Li Dingguo came up with this method of attacking the fort, but the inspiration came from the Battle of Wanxian that year. Jian Guo dug trenches to attack Li Guoying's cottage, but because the fort was close to the sea, there was no vegetation on the mountain to grab the soil, and the mud layer was not like Wanxian. It is so thick, there are too many rocks on the mountain, it is difficult to dig, and gunpowder blasting is required, and the amount of work is too large, otherwise he can dig all the way to the mountainside.

This tactic of digging and attacking is actually a bit like Li Yunlong.

Now the artillery array of the Ming army has entered the second ditch two hundred steps below the mountain, so that the artillery of the Ming army can shoot upwards at the top of the mountain, but the artillery on the fort is too close to shoot down because the artillery When designing the position, I didn't expect to put the muzzle down. Second, the muzzle down is not easy to load. The Ming army's artillery is equivalent to moving to the shooting dead end of the fort.

Many Dutch people are aware of this problem, and their faces are a little ugly. At this moment, white smoke suddenly rose from the artillery formation of the Ming army. , It was just a black dot at first, but in an instant, it drew an arc in the air and smashed towards the fort.

There was only a loud noise, and a cannonball landed sixty or seventy steps away from the fort, creating a deep crater.Other shells passed over the turret and fell into the sea water behind the turret, splashing water columns, and only a few hit the turret.

Soon the Ming army adjusted the gun positions, and the second wave of bullets hit the fort. This immediately caused the gravel to splash on the fort, and the Dutch ran away with their heads in their hands.

These forts were originally used to deal with enemies on the sea, and they were all targeting long-distance targets. Now that the Ming army is close to their feet, they have all the skills, but they don't know how to use them.

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(End of this chapter)